Descended from a convict who arrived with Collins in 1804, Alison Alexander was born in Hobart in 1949. She was educated at St Michael's Collegiate School and the University of Tasmania, where she gained a PHD in Tasmanian history. At first a teacher, she became a free-lance historian, and has written twenty books, including fifteen commissioned histories of Tasmanian institutions (ranging from Brighton and Clarence to the Australian Maritime College and the Zinc Works); a history of Australian women for the Office of the Status of Women, Canberra; and three biographies of women.

In 1993 Alison was awarded the Clive Lord Memorial Medal by the Royal Society of Tasmania for her research in Tasmanian history.